Re: ULMF the Third (RP Thread)
(And lo, Shade accidentally activates Host's special abilities.)
Shade’s attempt to put something in Host’s pocket should have failed miserably. While the lack of visible genitals made it fairly easy to forget, Host was walking around in nothing but his scales - technically, naked. In a normal situation, Shade should have simply realised his mistake when trying to find a pocket of Host’s to put his item in… but instead, after walking up to the reptile, Arion moved his hand towards Host… and put something in the demon’s pocket. From this moment on, try as it might, Shade’s mind refused to believe that Host did not have any pockets; even realising that Host wore no clothes would not shake the man’s – …well, elf’s - belief that the Lurker diplomat had pockets, and he had put something in one. The others in the group might find this odd – if not for the fact that they were not paying attention. Even if they were looking directly at Host while it happened, the minds of everyone present failed to register the problem; as far as all present were concerned, Shade had put something in Host’s pocket, and even the most mentally astute of them only got a vague, peculiar feeling, closest only to the sensation of wondering where your keys have gone.
Grave’s spell went off, the lights went out, Rapture went in… and a group of the patrolling bots heading towards the ULMFers noticed her run in, their heads turning towards her as she ran up and flattened against the right corner of the wall. The other three groups of bots, on the other hand, remained oblivious, continuing to patrol along the building. The four machines that had targeted her continued to move towards the side of the building the ULMFer was hiding on. They were still only walking, but soon enough the machines would pass the corner, effectively eliminating the cover the wall of the building was providing. If that was allowed to happen, anyone trying to join Rapture would be without cover immediately after passing the shield.
Host went through second, immediately after Rapture; more than one person going through at a time would have caused issues with the shield and its mass detection - the complex wouldn’t be expecting two trucks at once, after all. The device shorted out on the way in for him, as it did for everyone else, but its job was done.
His sprint’s footfalls were echoed by bullet impacts around him as the bots alerted by Rapture decided he was a suitable target; the other three groups of bots, apparently alerted by the gunfire, all broke their patrol route and headed for the noises. The threatened zone Host had to run through wasn’t that great, maybe only 15 to 20 meters between the wall and the shield’s edge – less, as the bots took a brief moment to be able to recognise and lock onto the running target, certainly a little longer than a human would have. Still, Host fell into a roll for the last of the distance, lowering his profile amidst the four guns being robotically aimed at him. Despite his large form, the reptile got up with no wounds beyond scraped scales from his roll.
“Do you think they noticed us?” He asks the squad’s commander, grinning. Rapture had fired on the machines coming up on the left, the leading bot falling with several holes in its excuse for a head, before the bots had targeted her and fired back. As soon as she was behind cover again the attacking bots had stopped firing, their target lost – and Host gave them a new one, ducking out from behind the corner. His two maschinenpistoles peppered the heads of the three remaining bots, breaking each of the red-light cameras they were using to track targets. When the machines gave their counterpoint, Host ducked behind the wall – and the bots kept firing. Without their visual targeting, the bots appeared to be still tracking him by some other means… but were no longer able to account for the wall, pointlessly trying to shoot him through it. ...Wait... Host hadn't been holding anything. Where did his guns come from...?
Now that they had been alerted by gunfire, there was a group of bots getting quite close to each of the corners; while Rapture and Host continued to deal with the first group on the right hand side, a second group of four on the left were moving up unopposed – at least until Sinful and her squad got through. Shade had arrived somewhat sooner, but being unassigned to a squad, could have decided to join either corner. A good way behind each of the first bot groups was another group of four, also now heading up the side of the building, towards the ULMF squad. They currently couldn't fire on the ULMFers, as the bots in front were blocking their line of sight, and they were apparently too poorly coded to move into a better angle, instead only advancing forwards.
“They’re dumb as bricks! They don’t take cover, I don’t think they account for their gun's kick - wait a minute…” Host broadcasts over the radio once the group is assembled, the last part probably unintentionally. Neither he or Rapture had managed to attack the bots on the right again, needing to wait for the bots' clips to run out and them to all simultaneously reload, since the machines now failed to recognise that they couldn’t hit their target. Because of this impromptu pinning fire, the three remaining bots had been able to get dangerously close to the corner.
Not exactly what I had been intending, but nevermind… the hellspawn thought to himself. It wouldn’t stop Shrike from going straight at the bots, of course, her blades doing a reasonable job of deflecting fire... but the Lurker stopped her with “Just a second. I’m going to try-“
Host left the explanation hanging, as the moment the bots all simultaneously emptied their clips, he immediately dashed out from behind the corner – not just ducking out, but actually running, (using the burns on the ground to be sure he wasn't running into the shield,) going far enough that the second group on the right was able to target him. They opened fire, the closer bots still reloading, and Host immediately dashed back behind the wall. The far group of bots continued to fire until they lost their target – but not before accidentally hitting two of the bots in the group in front.
Detecting a threat attacking from behind, the two bots that had been struck turned and opened fire on the trailing group. Their targets changed, the two turned and began moving towards the group behind them, leaving only one bot from the front group to turn the corner, just in time to meet Shrike’s blades. “AkakakakkarkaRR!” Host cackled as he opened the radio channel, “The scrap-piles haven’t even got anti-infighting protocols!”
